Bread price rise inevitable

Price hikes are biting home for bakers nationwide and despite a battle to keep down costs, they will be passed on to customers, according to Masterton bakeries.
Peter Rewi, Breadcraft Wairarapa general manager, said his company has not been greatly affected by the rise in butter and dairy prices but grain prices internationally and petrol and electricity costs have had a direct impact on their bottom lines.
"Droughts in Australia and the Ukraine and Russia and the shift from wheat to biofuel crops in the States does push local prices up though," he said.
"We will do our best to increase volumes, develop new markets and increase efficiencies but eventually and it won't happen today cost recovery is vital to any business and inevitably prices will rise."
Mr Rewi said a major bakery in the South Island had announced it would soon raise its prices although Breadcraft would work to keep their prices stable and absorb the upstream increases.
"Costs for us have increased dramatically over the last six to eight weeks but we have no immediate plans to raise ours.
"It's interesting to note that the average selling prices for bread in Wairarapa for the past 12 months and that they are less now than they were five years ago."
Ten O'Clock Cookie Company's manager Michael Kloeg said the Masterton company he manages will be able to stave off the impact of a 23 per cent rise in the wholesale price of butter "for a little while at least" although price hikes predicted across the board for other ingredients will eventually hit buyers' pockets.
"We talked about just this at a company meeting last night. But what do you do? We are committed to absorb the rises and try to hold our prices at present levels.
"There will be no price rise straight away but it will be passed on eventually. We'll be banking on numbers through our doors to keep the present prices sustainable."
Mr Kloeg said the rise in butter prices means an increase for the company of about $200 on the 60 to 80 20kg boxes they use each week.
"I think it may be easier for ourselves compared to smaller cafes and operators but I'm not going to say it will be a make or break situation for them. It will be a crunch time though in the next couple of months for us all.
"And it's not just the rises in wholesale prices. It's also the increase in the minimum wages as well that take a toll, and electricity and petrol prices. The main thing for us is making sure of efficiency in our work working harder and working smarter will keep prices down at the till for that much longer."